Wildlife commission tweaks 2014 fish seasons

Ocean anglers will see only a slight tweak to the cabezon season when they hit the water under a suite of fishing seasons and groundfish limits adopted last Friday by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Ocean anglers will see only a slight tweak to the cabezon season when they hit the water under a suite of fishing seasons and groundfish limits adopted last Friday by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The cabezon season will open July 1, just like it did this year, and end Dec. 31 or when the quota, which has yet to be established, is reached.

The season this year was set to end Sept. 30, or earlier if the 15.3 metric ton quota was reached. The quota was not met, so the season was extended to Dec. 31. The commission set the 2014 season to reflect this year's circumstances.

The commission also adopted a change in hunting and angling licensing rules to offer breaks to those in military service.

A new law passed earlier this year by the Oregon Legislature gives active-duty military members the chance to buy hunting and fishing licenses and most tags at resident costs, regardless of where they reside. It excludes tags offered in controlled hunts.

The commission adopted the administrative rules that make the Legislature's House Bill 2252 a reality beginning in 2014.

Another provision of that bill allows the commission to set fees for multiyear licenses as a possible discount from the current one-year license.

ODFW has not worked up possible license fees and has yet to make any proposal to the commission about implementing that part of the bill, says Michelle Dennehy, ODFW's Wildlife Division spokeswoman.

The Medford-based Rogue FlyFishers Association will meet Wednesday for the last time at a downtown Medford hotel before changing its meeting locale in January.

The club has met at the Red Lion Hotel, now known as the Inn on the Commons, at 200 N. Riverside Ave., since the old Kim's Restaurant closed in 2005.

Beginning next month the club will shift its meeting place to the Rogue Regency Inn, 2300 Biddle Road.

The move was made after room and meal costs increased at the inn, according to the RFF.